Material handling apparatus



Patented Aug. 19, 1941 I 2,252,760" MATERIAL HANDLING APPARATUS Aeneas J. N. Duclos, South Orange, N. J assignor to Western Electric Company, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application May 3, 1940, Serial No. 333,123

3 Claims.

This invention relates to material handling apparatus, and more particularly to an adjustable and removable spout or conduit for charging hot liquid materials from a furnace or the likeinto a container.

In the manufacture of lead sheathed telephone cable, the finished cable cores are sometimes sheathed with a seamlessly continuous outer envelope or protective sheath, by extruding about them in a suitable extrusion press a continuously seamless, snug fitting tube or sheath of lead or of a suitable alloy of lead. The sheathing metal is usually charged while molten into the extrusion cylinder of the press, and, for this purpose, there is ordinarily a melting furnace close by the press to supply the molten sheathing metal. In some instances one such furnace may be a supply for two or even more presses grouped conveniently with it. In such case the pot or kettle of the furnace may be situated with its discharge outlet above the inlet opening of each cylinder to be charged when the latter is in its charging position, so that the molten charge may be transferred by gravity. It is,of course, important to avoid contamination of the molten metal during the passage from kettle to cylinder, and, if any contamination occurs, to prevent entry of impurities into the cylinder with the. clean charge. Lead and its alloys are peculiarly prone to oxidation upon exposure to the air, especially while molten, and the results of such oxidation are drosses and slags particularly apt to mar the seamless continuity of the cable sheaths here in question.

An object of the present invention is to provide a simple, rugged and reliable device for transferring molten materials, which shall be easy and safe to handle and shall prevent the contamination from without of the material being transferred as well as remove contaminations therefrom.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention may be embodied in a spout to be detachably secured to a delivery member on a heating kettle, the spout having means to render it adjustable as to orientation with respectto the kettle and having means therein to remove solid particles from molten material running therethrough.

Other objects and features of the invention will appear from the following detailed description of :an embodiment thereof, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which the samereference numerals are applied to identical parts in the several figures, and in which Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation and partly in central longitudinal section of a spout constructed in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged broken plan view of the delivery end thereof;

Fig. 3 Ba section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is an elevational view on a reduced scale of the spout in use.

The embodiment of the invention herein disclosed has as its principal member a tubular body 20, preferably of seamless drawn steel or other suitable material, of substantially uniform diameter and circular cross section over the greater part of its length, but flattened to be progressively narrower from top to bottom and wider from side to side toward its lower or right hand end. The upper or left hand end is flared spherically at 2| to form the concave part of a ball and socket ,joint whose convex member is an annulus or ring 22 with a convexly spherical outer surface to match the flare 2| of the member 20 and against which the flare is apposed. The right end of the central bore 24 of the ring 22 has about the same diameter as thebore of the body 20 and is normally aligned therewith, while the left end of the bore 24 is about of the same diameter as the bore of the furnace kettle discharge nozzle I9 to which the spout generally is removably secured. The nozzle I9 is ordinarily formed with a square faced cylindrical end. The ring 22 is formed with a cylindrical flange 25 fitting over the end of the nozzle and lockable thereon with a camming effect by one or more bayonet locks and consisting of a radial pin 26 set in the nozzle and a corresponding slot ll in the flange. Preferably, a seal is interposed between the end of the nozzle l9 and the abutting end of the ring 22. .As herein shown this seal is a relatively soft ring 28 of aluminum, shown as attached by screws to the end of the nozzle, but which might instead be similarly secured to the ring 22, or might be left free of both. Also it need not be of aluminum but might be of copper or other suitable metal or of material such as asbestos. The flare 2| is held on the matching out-er surface of the ring 22 by a collar 29 around the flare and held to the ring 22 by screws 30 entering the integral base which joins the flange 25 to the ring 22. Compression springs 3| are preferably used between the collar 29 and the heads of thescrews 30 as shown. -By setting the screws 30 up tightly the flare 2| is secured frictionally substantially immovably to the ring 22. If the screws 30 are loosened a trifle the flare may be slid in any direction on the ring :to alter the orientation of the body 20 with respect to the flange 25 and therefore to the nozzle [9. A handle 32 welded or otherwise secured to the flange 25 and a handle 33 welded or otherwise secured to the body 20 serve to lift, transport and manipulate the entire device. Preferably each of these handles is made as shown in Fig. 3 by welding the end. of a convenient length of suitably sized metal tube to its support, the tube being formed with a number of radial perforations 34 through its wall, as such a handle will remain cool enough to be grasped with the bare hand even when the body to which it is attached is far too hot to be handled. However, if desired these handles 32 and 33 may be solid, as shown at 32.

The lower or right end of the; body 20 iswelded l around the edge of. a corresponding aperture formed in the side wall 35 of a short, wide, horizontal cylindrical drum, generallyindicated by 36, whose top is a solid sheet 31 welded jthereon. An inwardly projecting angular flange 381 is weldwhere other molten materials than lead and its V alloys are in question, other more costly matefrial'may be required to resist corrosion or for other reasons. 'Also, in the pres'entcasejit is pre ferred tomake the screen 4| ofrust and .cor-

rosion resisting 'material such' as Monel metal orstainless steelr In"thepresent case also it is found that thisrscreen 4| serves satisfactorily if woven"about' fourteen meshes to the'inch and of Monel metal-wire about 0.020 inch in' diameter.

In the particular instance here illustrated; a i

-t-erialhandling device to transfer liquid material f-rom acontainer having a delivery-aperf-urnaced 7 bass. meltingkett-lel8-provided with adi'schargenoz'zl-e I91 The-details of construc 't-ion and operation ofthe" furnace and k'ettle'are no-part-ofthe present invention alnd so are not trusion'press of the usualtype comprising esseng tially an extrusion cylinder 16- and a ram [5 'to coact therewith, thecylinder l6 beingmounted-onth'e rami4 ofa hydraulic cylinder 13 to be drivenup thereby against the stationary-- extrusion ram- 45. -When-the cylinder I6 is in its lowest position as shown in Fig. 4, it is retired entirely from the ram 15, leaving the mouth of the cylinder 16 open for supplying lead thereto from the kettle i8; a v

For this purpose 4 the. device installed as shownin Fig. 4; Locking of thebayonet-locks 25, 27- cams the ring:- 22: closely against the seal ring 28-, so that there is a sealed and wholly-enclosed passage from-the nozzle 19 to =thescreen 6!. to run-from the-nozzle iil will promptly. fill the tube .28, driving the. air out-of tube 20,. driving the airout. of it until the weight behind the; fluid lead onlthe soreenrll. breaks the surface tension of.-the..;molten material on the screen and. the lead; flows, through the .screen and. falls into the cylinder LE, filling this rapidly; Contact with air .the tube Zllzis practically, nil. Any dross .or otherharmful solidspresent. in. the lead. in the .kettlewillbe screened. out on .theiscreen 4i. As

h reis. practically.nocirculation of; air. into and of the invention is Moltendead or lead alloy. allowed out of the cylinder l6, oxidation of the metal falling from the screen is negligible as compared with what takes placeif an open trough be used to carry, the molten metal from. the nozzle to the cylinder exposed to the circulating air of the room. The previous chargebeing clean, the

remnant of it in the bottom of the extrusion cylinder tends to weld more cleanly with the new charge being poured, and when extrusion is continued scoring or excessive Wear on the extrusion die tends to be markedly decreased if not entirely What isclaimedisi- Adetachable and adjustable, portable materialj handling device to transfer liquid material from a container having a delivery aperture; the device comprisinga tubular body, means at one endof the body to'removably secure the sameto the edge of the aperture to -receive liquid material therethrough, means to vary the orientation of the body with respect tothe container-when secured-thereto; anenlarged chamber at the other end of the body formed with a discharge aperture in the floor of the chamber, and means positioned in the discharge aperture to purify liouid; material passing therethrough. -2 .*Adetachableand adjustable, portable ma ture, thedevice-comprising a laterally closed tu- -bular body, a tubular. attaching member-connected toone end of the body by a ball andsookattaching member-and: therewith the body to the container to receive-liquid: material from the delivery aperture,anenlargedchamber at the other end of the bodyaformed with a discharge aperture in the floor of the chamber, and a screen positioned across the discharge aperture to purify 'liquidrnaterial passing therethrough; l 3;"Acdetachable and adjustable,- portable materialhandling device. to transfer liquid material from.:a.. container. having. a deliverynozzle, the device comprising a laterally closed-tubular body,

a tubular attaching member to fit over the end .of,the;nozzle, .camming. bayonet lock elements on .theiattachingstmember to, coactwith correspond.-

ingaelements; on;.the ;nozzle .to removably lock the member in place on the nozzle, ball and soc l st ioint members on: the attaching. member andpri ,one end. of the. body to securethe body on tli 'member. to be adjustable. thereon as to orientation with" respect thereto, an enlarged chamber at, the other end. of the body formed with a discharge'aperture in the floor of the chamber, and a'screenpositioned across the dischargeaperture to purify liquid materialp'assing therethrough..

. AENEAS .J. 'N..DUCLOS. 

